Good Ship Rhino ~ final sketch

After countless tweaks I believe I'm finally satisfied with this sketch but don't ask me tomorrow. I may change my mind again. The most difficult thing was to keep the focus on the main subject, the shipwreck. It was becoming more about those octopus tentacles. I hope by using those same tentacles to frame the shipwreck plus narrowing the format and bringing everything closer together I've solved that issue. I may run into trouble again when I add color so I will have to be mindful of that.

The Good Ship Rhino ~ WIP 3

This looks a little rough because in some areas there are 2-3 layers of tracing paper overlapping.The vertical cut on the right was made to tighten the width of the format. I simply sliced the chosen area and slid it over to the left.

This will be the last update of my sketch before the final. There are still a few things I plan to adjust but I'm close to completion. Once I'm completely satisfied I will do a final tracing and post that before tranferring the drawing onto my working paper. As weird as this may look it is surrealism. I plan to post my thought process while working on this. I must say, it's a great deal of fun to let my imagination run wild and free. I love fantasy, cats, critters and who knows...before this is done there may be a few flowers that show up. Flowers are another love of mine. So fun to include it all in one painting.

The Good Ship Rhino ~ WIP 2

This project has begun to turn into a monster, literally and figuratively. As the ideas increase, so has the size of the sketch and my teacup has sprouted tentacles. I now have this taped to my biggest mounting board on my tabletop easel on the kitchen table. I snapped these photos just now so I could post a quick update. I've made some changes to the original sketch and added an overlay of tracing paper showing some possible additions.

Wreck of the Good Ship Rhino & a Shag ~ WIP

Inspired by the work of Yuri Laptev, I recently visited Paint My Photo (link) to gather some ideas. I haven't been on this site for ages and was amazed at the quantity and quality of photographs in their gallery. Over 1600 images, all copyright free. I found a wonderful image of a rhino, resting in a zoo enclosure, and saved it to my on-site 'favorites'. Later I stumbled onto another image of a beached fishing boat, falling into decay. The overall shape and angle of incline reminded me of the rhino. I did a tracing of the boat, then overlaid that onto the rhino image and they meshed perfectly. An idea was beginning to form. I added the cormorant later. Whenever I include a new 'critter' in my artwork I like to learn a little bit about it first. Googling revealed that the slang term for a cormorant is a shag. Cool!

I'm now in the process of creating what I like to call a storyboard. Whenever I create a piece from multiple images I like to work on tracing paper. Each element is drawn or traced onto separate scraps of paper so they can be moved/removed and adjusted into various compositions on a board. Because the tracing paper is transluscent every layer is always visible. An example of this process can be seen in the WIP Cawcus (link) , a painting I completed last year. I'm currently jotting down more ideas for this project in a small notebook as they come to me. It should be fun to see this evolve and what comes of it.

What's that sound?!

Another pair of alcohol ink cats on Yupo. I added some metallic copper this time. The metallic additives don't move and flow like the regular inks but can create some nice effects.

Yuri Laptev ~ artist

I recently discovered Yuri Laptev's work on Facebook and immediately fell in love with it. It's full of fantasy and surrealism which I truly enjoy, especially when it's done well. After much Googling, finding many sites that featured bits and pieces of his body of work, I finally located his website. Here is a brief bio (in my words):

Yuri Laptev was born in Petropavlosk (North Kazachstan). He moved to Crimea and studied at Simferopol Design School. After completing his studies, Yuri began working for the Artistic Foundation of Ukrainian Soviet Republic with the specialization in Interior and Application Design and found success and distinction as an artist/designer. He also developed an interest in self expression and worked in several mediums including mosaic and sculpture before finding he preferred working at the easel. In 1998 he discovered he enjoyed digital art as well. 

A more complete bio is available on this website:

Yuri Laptev

Soft Pastel on Yupo ~ lounging cats

I just completed this one and scanned it. Colors are a little off as usual but it's close. This was done with SMI soft pastel on Yupo. A coating of the blending solution or alcohol ink will accept and hold the pastel. Another fine spray of blending solution will seal the pastel to the surface. I had no reference and didn't bother with a pre-drawing. I used a small, inexpensive brush dipped in rubbing alcohol to push the pastel where I wanted it to go.

Why bother with this? Because I do enjoy working with pastel once in awhile but hate the prices for custom frames with real glass. My only other option would be to buy a pane of glass and pay to have it cut to order. Not going to happen. I'm going to watch this piece to see if the pastel does indeed stay sealed and doesn't flake off eventually. If it doesn't I will probably move ahead and any paintings I create in this way will be framed with Plexi.

8/4/12 ~ I tweaked this today to sort out the awkward position of the cat in the foreground. I'm not sure I completely accomplished my mission but I think overall it reads a little better. I also added whiskers on two of the cats with a white Ziggy pen. Cats need whiskers or they just look weird, IMO. I wanted to mention that misting soft pastel with the blending solution will alter the colors. I didn't mind the blue shifting hue but I was losing the yellow. It became muddy and greenish. This time I didn't spray the yellow and it seems to be hanging on just fine. It isn't sealed to the surface but is staying in place.    

Wild Plum ~ alcohol ink

SOLD

Wild Plum is one of the newer Tim Holtz colors and it is very potent and also, as I've discovered, extremely hard to scan or photograph. I've spent the last 1/2 hour working with this image in my photo editor, trying to tone down the Wild Plum background without losing the other colors. This is the best I could do although it looks much better IRL...trust me. I'm making a mental note to go easy with the Wild Plum next time. It's a gorgeous, vibrant color but a little goes a very long way.

I did add some pearl mixative with this color and made a sample swatch some time ago. The pearl seems to quiet it somewhat.

Celebrating the Medium

After trying so many different approaches using the alcohol ink, I wanted to create one piece celebrating the unique qualities of this medium. This painting hopefully showcases just that. For all my experimenting, I have to concede the same results could've been achieved with watercolor or fluid acrylic. Maybe not on Yupo but certainly on paper.

I applied the blending solution to the Yupo, dropped on the inks and simply let it do what it does. I got some lovely movement and colorful blends. I used an alcohol pen filled with blending solution to create the grass blades and the little flowers.

Making Friends ~ completed

I managed to lower the 'heat' by removing some of the ink. I dropped in some Pool, a very cool blue. It's a potent color so I tried not to over-do it. A shadow was created beneath the center cat for a horizontal element in an otherwise diagonal composition.

I made a few corrections and additions. The painting was much too 'hot', the red/orange too intense so I lifted some of the color between the cats in the foreground with a small amount of rubbing alcohol on a paper towel. I did this not only for esthetics but also to highlight the 'exchange' between these two animals. The little onlooker in the background is for composition sake. I guess this cat decided to hang back and watch the goings on.

Having my own cats and watching their behavior when another, strange cat approaches I think I've succeeded in recreating the posturing that takes place. Cats are very territorial and are slow to accept another cat on their turf. They're very selective when making new friends. The 'new' cat usually approaches cautiously with a curious, slightly submissive attitude if it's interested in joining the group. I've been witness to various outcomes of these exchanges...some good, some not so much.

I added this image to my Imagekind Gallery. It looks amazing on canvas so I hope you will stop by and check it out: http://www.imagekind.com/Making-Friends_art?IMID=b7ccce70-9ce3-4ff3-a237-6eefbd11deb4

Making Friends ~ WIP

This one is still in the works. I'm feeling my way as I go along. I find it's better not to have a solid goal in mind when working with alcohol ink. It's similar to watercolor in that way. Add the Yupo factor and try not to plan at all. Just see what happens and go with the flow. I think this needs some cool color. Maybe Pool, similar to Phthalo blue in hue.

Soft Pastel on Yupo?

The pastel has been added throughout this piece but is mostly visible on the left side. I turned the stone wall into a stone cliff and added the cliffhanger(a little tree) and the opposing mountain in the bottom right corner to aid composition.

Yes! I had to try it and it worked. I've been pushing Yupo to it's limits with all my experimenting. I scored it with an awl, inked and wiped, re-inked and wiped again. I think eventually the surface does abrade creating a very slight 'tooth'. I was going for a stone wall affect, using the awl and black marker to depict the edges of the stones. At that point I wondered what I hadn't tried yet and soft pastel popped into my head. Hey, why not? I sprayed the surface with the blending solution, then as it was drying I added grey and blue pastel. Somehow when the solution dried completely the pastel was sealed to the surface. It can be removed with alcohol or blending solution just like the ink but it's there to stay otherwise.

A Cool Site

The site is called { Design Seeds } (link).  Anyone visiting can open the Palette Search page and create their own color combinations based on a single color. Many times I'm inspired by a certain color rather than a subject and I sometimes struggle with a complimentary palette for that color. 

I'm posting a screen cap of the palette page and have added colored arrows for reference. This nifty little site allows one to recreate their chosen color by adjusting the RGB levels indicated by the black arrows. You may even choose a theme such as Floral,  Edible, etc. (indicated by the green arrow). Fun! Hit 'go get it' which I pointed out with the blue arrow and various complimentary color combinations will appear below. Scroll down to see them all. Maybe you'll find some combinations you never imagined.

If at first you don't succeed...

The after

The before

...keep on trying. With Yupo that isn't difficult. Man, is this stuff forgiving. I wanted to try watercolor on this surface to see just how much trouble it would give me. You can push watercolor around on Yupo all day and into the night but I didn't want to spend the time so I got out my inks, an Exacto knife & some markers and started playing. I scanned my original results (which were boring, BTW) and I'm posting both the before & after. I think it's much more exciting now. I may even continue playing with this one. I'm not the least bit happy with where the stems cross so I should correct that mistake while I'm at it.

Ants on my plants

I got up earlier than usual today. I'm a night owl so I normally sleep late. It's a glorious summer morning. Perfect temp, humidity level and the sun is shining. I took my Canon S5 IS outside and took a few floral macros. I won't say what flower this is. I'll let you guess. It wasn't until I uploaded my photos that I noticed a surprise...two ants enjoying the summer flowers as well.

A Cat of Color

My latest alcohol ink project. Yup, another cat. I noticed when I wiped a failed painting off the Yupo with isopropyl alcohol it left behind some pale color. A pleasant, rather neutral watercolor affect emerged. A perfect background for many subjects. I lightly scored the shape of a cat into the Yupo with an Exacto knife. Then I added more ink. I made sure to use one of the darker inks, (in this case, Eggplant), then wiped that away. The ink settled into the score lines as I had hoped. When this was dry I filled in the shape of the cat with more ink, using a small paint brush. I'm very pleased with the results!

7/27/2012 - Prints of A Cat of Color are now available via Imagekind: http://www.imagekind.com/A-Cat-of-Color-art?IMID=534cc677-63e4-4fb6-af8b-fb031152ba33

It's Tulip Time Again

Another alcohol ink painting, this time a group of red tulips. This style is so far outside my wheelhouse I'm not sure where it came from but I had fun painting it.

A Few Old Crows & a Feather

These crows are painted on Yupo with Speedball ink. I let them dry completely before applying the alcohol ink to my stamper and tamping it right on top of the birds. I did notice the Speedball ink eventually began to lift in spots so I stopped, then made a few corrections with a black Micron pen after everything had dried.

This crow was drawn on Yupo with a black permanent marker. Then I applied the alcohol ink over top same as I did with the first crows.

This one has a little bit of everything going on. I wanted to see what the inks would look like on a field of black so I painted an area with black Speedball, let dry completely, then tamped on some red and copper alcohol ink. That's the dark area you see. I created the feather by squeezing a large drop of white fluid acrylic onto Yupo, then used the tip of the handle of a paint brush to 'pull' the acrylic into a feathery shape.



I've been trying other mediums this evening with the alcohol ink to see what effects I can achieve. I didn't actually mix each medium with the ink. I did try the other day and found out alcohol ink and fluid acrylic do not mix! However one applied on top of the other can get you some interesting results.

Alcohol Inks ~ more supplies & colors

I've been waiting for more supplies and they have finally arrived. Most of them anyway. Still waiting for the alcohol pens from Nona Designs. I think they were on back order.

I now have a few new colors plus two mixatives... metallic copper and pearl. I played with the copper mixative last night and combined on Yupo with Clover ink, which is very similar in color to Pthalo green, I managed to pull off a decent facsimile of verdigrised copper. Got some nice texture going on as well. I posted an image of my results above. Not the best image but metallics are difficult to photograph.

I also took time to start a color chart. Ranger alcohol inks have a total selection of 48 colors and 4 mixatives available. I detest taking the time to create color charts, trying to make them look halfway decent. All the measuring and drawing of lines, labeling...yuck. Lo and behold I found Ranger inks offer a color chart template (link) in PDF form. Print it out on a sheet of glossy craft paper or Yupo and just add a drop of the ink under the corresponding name. Voila! Wish I had found this last night.

les compagnons

SOLD

I can't explore a new medium without getting a few cats involved as subjects. This is alcohol ink on Yupo again but this time I added some Micron pen and black permanent marker. Both pen and marker ink will move and blend nicely with a little rubbing alcohol so I was able to soften edges/harsh lines where needed. The violent yellow in the background is actually a soft golden yellow IRL. I've been scanning these small pieces rather than photographing them and scanners tend to blow up certain colors. Unfortunately the photos I took were even worse.

Alcohol Ink on Yupo ~ still going

My latest ink painting at the top. This time I went a little larger, roughly 8" x 10". Honestly, I've tried a lot of mediums but never ran into one I could not leave alone. I can't say that anymore. 

More about the products and supplies: Tim Holtz has a blending solution that Wendy highly recommended. The blending solution is applied to the surface of the Yupo prior to adding the ink. She also suggested it be used liberally(I stress liberally) before the inks are added to create lovely soft color blends and edges. It also helps the ink move across the surface of the Yupo and delays drying time. Alcohol ink on it's own dries very fast. You can use plain rubbing alcohol in place of the blending solution but the results won't be the same. I know this because I've tried.


The stamper has Velcro on the ink side and comes with removeable felt pads which the Velcro holds in place. By dropping small dots of ink on a felt pad and gently stamping it on your painting, lovely little colored blooms are created which can indicate leaves on trees, small flowers in a field, etc. Straight rubbing alcohol can also be spattered on the ink to create various textures.

FYI, the bottles of ink are small, .05 fluid oz. each, but a little goes a long way.

Right now I'm waiting for another tool to arrive. An alcohol pen which can be filled with blending solution or ink and used to produce even more effects. Tim Holtz online carries this product but they are currently out of stock and I wanted to catch the free shipping deadline(which ends today) for my next order of ink. I found another online supplier, Nona Designs. Their prices are a little higher but they have what I need now. I'm impatient sometimes.

Alcohol Ink on Yupo ~ continued

I was introduced to alcohol ink on Yupo by Wendy Videlock who I chanced to meet on Facebook. I thought her work was exciting so, of course, I wanted to know more. I checked out her blog, The Fifth Element (link) and was happy to discover she sells DVDs demo-ing her process. I ordered the demo which was very well done and full of information.

Wendy buys her supplies from her local Michaels store but we don't have one nearby so I ordered from Tim Holtz online (link) . She recommends his line of Ranger Adirondack acid free inks, claiming they are the most vibrant of any she has tried. When I went to the Tim Holtz store online, I searched 'alcohol ink' and a page opened with a list of most all the supplies needed. I've been intending to try my hand with Yupo for a few years so this was the impetus to order a few sheets from Blick and since all my supplies have arrived I've been hooked. Playing with ink on Yupo is addicting.

As Wendy recommended in her demo, I've been experimenting on small (4" x 4"/ 4" x 5") squares of Yupo, getting accustomed to the way each different color of ink reacts/behaves, alone and together with other colors. I'm posting today's samples to see what they look like on screen.

To anyone who would like to try alcohol ink on Yupo and is interested in Wendy's DVD, here is a link:

http://nutshell-wendy.blogspot.com/2012/06/alcohol-inks-on-yupo-tutorial.html

Note: You can contact Wendy via Facebook or by email

Alcohol Ink on Yupo

I've been playing with a new(to me) medium today. It's called alcohol ink. Normally used by scrapbookers and crafters, it has potential for the fine art world, IMO. I'm going to post some samples I've been working on today and I'll do a follow up post with more information, some links and hopefully more results very soon.

Miss Willmott's Ghost ~ 2012

Miss Willmott's Ghost (link) (aka Eryngium giganteum aka giant white sea holly) has graced my moon garden this year with not one but two blooming stalks, each roughly 36" tall and both are loaded with blooms. This doesn't happen every year. These plants come from the seed of a parent plant I added to the garden back in 1997. Here are a few photos I'd like to share.

More Weeds

I have a lovely weed border growing in front of my home between my sidewalk and the drive. Before it succumbs to the weed whacker I thought I'd use up the last half sheet of the dark pastel paper from my prior post and sketch a small snippet. I have to say I really hate this color of pastel paper. It 'eats' light colors (mainly white) and it seems there's nothing that can be done about it. I tried white charcoal, Chinese white and white colored pencil w/o luck. It also shows every little smudge and piece of dust. Nonetheless, here is my sketch.

Another Shell Sketch

I've got a rather large conch shell I've used as my model this time. I'm not quite as happy with this as I am with the first shell sketch. I think my pastel paper may have been too dark. I'm posting it anyway. I had plans of doing a series and calling it 'Shell-f Life'. I may still follow through. Have to see where inspiration takes me.

Joseph Zbukvic ~ video demo

To anyone that works with watercolor, Mr. Zbukvic (or Mr. Z for short) is a very familiar name. He paints the most incredible urban landscapes in watercolor with poetic ease. I wanted to share this video demo with you, my visitors, so you can all enjoy seeing a master at work. I need to mention that he demos his entire process (creating the comp) and paints a piece to completion in the 20 minutes this video runs. It's really worth the time to watch.


Joseph Zbukvic gives a studio demo from web3media on Vimeo.

Back to the Drawing Board

I found myself stuck on a problem with my cat collage *sigh* so I decided to go back to my roots...drawing. I haven't sketched much of anything in quite some time. Being able to draw and sketch should be a basic skill of every artist. I realized I had grown lazy, using my computer screen as a light box to trace simple outlines for my paintings from photo references. I was always so eager to get started on the painting I was neglecting my prep work.


I have this shell that has sat on the tank lid of my toilet as decoration for years. It's a crazy looking thing. Well armored with spikes poking out at every angle. This must have been one bada** snail when it was alive and I'm sure it died of natural causes.

I sketched this shell from four different angles with ballpoint pen. I used a pen to keep myself honest. No erasing. Then I found a few sheets of sanded pastel paper. I hunted through my art supplies and found my sketch set...one sepia pencil, one sanguine, one china white and also I grabbed a medium charcoal pencil and went to work. I'm posting my current results for Operation Snail Shell.

A Dip into Digital Art

I'm not a huge fan of digital art but if it's done really well I can certainly appreciate it. The skill level and work involved in creating something visually stunning and/or unique using computer technology is a part of the future of art.

These pieces, which I just uploaded, are not one of those stunning and unique bits of artwork I speak of but I thought they were kind of cool so I'm posting them. I filled a vase with a bouquet of chive blossoms and created a still life with a cluster of grapes and a bell pepper, then photographed it. I began to play in my photo editor and voila! Art!

Truth be told, I ran into issues with my collage so that's staring at me from my studio table begging for a solution and I haven't picked up a brush in awhile. I had to create something today so this is it.